The Ho'Wan Island Carnival
by Vicki So
Summary: What happens when Aang, Sokka and Katara spend a day in the greatest year round carnival on Aang's birthday? How will Prince Zuko deal with trying to act like a normal teen while still hot on the Avatar's heels? Zutara, Comedy, Angst, and more! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Too bad for me.**

**This if my first fanfic. Feel free to criticize me as much as you like. In fact, please do. **

**

* * *

**  
"And they have the best rides there!" Aang exclaimed, eyes bright and wide. "They have this great catapult that throws you up into the air—"

Sokka started from his reverie. "Whoa, wait a minute there, Aang, I am not getting onto a ride that would normally be used for smashing up castles," he said.

"Anyhow, aren't we a little behind schedule? This detour is going to delay us at least a day." Katara said as she counted through their meager supplies. At the rate they were traveling, they'd have to stop again to get more food soon.

"Guys, it'll totally be worth it," Aang grinned widely, leaning back against Appa's wide cushioned saddle. He watched the clouds float past, bending a small nearby one into the shape of a duck. "The world can wait for me – I mean, we're still kids. Sure, I'm the Avatar and all that, but there aren't any rules that say I can't have a little bit of fun before I save the world." Aang's smile shrunk and he suddenly grew morose. He turned over onto his belly and ran his fingers through Appa's thick white fur.

Katara and Sokka glanced sidelong at each other. Their frequent stops to ride exotic animals and visit Aang's "important" landmarks made the entire journey seem like one long vacation, albeit a dangerous one, with Fire Nation on their trail, spirit realm encounters, cutthroats in their path...

"Anyways, I really wanted you guys to see Ho'Wan Island," Aang said sitting up again. "See, I don't know when I'm gonna get another chance to go once I start doing my Avatar stuff. I was hoping ... it's kind of a special day..." Aang squirmed in his seat, not making eye contact with either sibling.

"What, like some kind of Airbender holiday or somethin'?" Sokka asked.

"Weeelll, not exactly..." Aang hesitated. "It's my birthday."

The siblings stopped short. Of course the boy had a birthday: being an Avatar didn't mean he hadn't been born a regular kid. "Aang, why didn't you say something? Of course we'll go to Ho'Wan with you!" Katara smiled at the little monk. "It'll be our treat!"

"Really? Great!" and before Sokka could object to spending good food money on some stupid carnival, Aang leapt onto the great flying bison's shaggy neck, snapped up the reins from Momo's slack grip, and steered their mount northeast in a wide arc.

* * *

"They're heading northeast," Prince Zuko lowered the brass telescope from his good eye and barked orders to the crew to follow.

"Do you think he knows we're following him?" Zuko's stout Uncle Iroh ambled up behind him, daintily sipping a cup of tea.

Zuko watched the almost indiscernible speck in the sky that was the Avatar's bison. He hissed lowly. "Can't say for sure. We've been following them for days now just out of their sight, and they haven't shown any indication that they know we're on their trail." Zuko gritted his teeth. "Til now."

"Well, while we're waiting for them to catch on to us, why don't you come below deck and play a game of Pai-sho with me?"

Zuko wasn't listening. "Damn him! What is he thinking? Where is he going?" He dashed a fireball onto the ship's cold steel deck.

"You know what you need?" Iroh said over the lip of his teacup, ignoring his nephew's outburst. "You need to get out. Have some fun. A boy your age should be out playing sports and chasing girls, not planning strategic warfare."

Zuko whirled on his uncle. "I am NOT a boy!" A demonic halo of sparks and embers circled the prince's head.

"Fine, fine, my mistake..." Iroh waved the ill-made comment off, and mentally settled himself for one of his nephew's long fiery speeches about honour, and how capturing the Avatar would help him regain his rightful place by his father's side. They always came at moments like these, when Zuko was hot on the trail and frothing over capturing the Avatar.

Iroh lamented. Did his nephew really think his father, Fire Lord Ozai, would just welcome his son back from exile if Prince Zuko made him a present of a small child in chains? Reflecting, he doubted the young prince would have survived the first month of his banishment if he, a decorated general and respected Imperial family member, hadn't decided to keep an eye on the scarred, spoiled prince. Raw with teenage angst and anguish, exiled from his homeland, and forced to chase a phantom – the long-lost Avatar – the sixteen-year-old prince had needed someone to guide him. Sill needed someone to guide him.

So the Great General Iroh had used his respected veteran status and convinced, bribed, coerced, or blackmailed enough personnel to sign on and man the Fire Prince's small vessel for the long haul. Of course, the only reason most of the soldiers and crew were there was because they respected – or were afraid of - the Dragon of the West. No sane member of the Fire Nation would associate himself with the shamed, exiled Prince, especially one who ordered everyone around like dogs.

No, forgiveness was not part of Ozai's personality, Iroh decided. He had never underestimated his brother's ruthlessness. The horrid burn scar on the left side of his nephew's face reminded him of that every day. He glanced surreptitiously at his Zuko's disfigurement, sickly shiny in the morning sun, and waited for the "how I will regain my honour" speech.

But no such tirade came. A strange look was fixed to Zuko's face. The wrinkle in his brow had smoothed over, the jaw wasn't clenched, and his golden eyes weren't narrowed to slits. He almost seemed… calm.

"Prince Zuko?" A bead of panic welled in Iroh's chest, thinking some assassin had taken the prince out with a deadly poison dart he hadn't yet spotted. "Is everything…?"

"I'm not a boy… but the Avatar is!" Zuko whirled and headed to the upper deck, ascending the steps two at a time. His uncle followed in bewilderment. The prince hastily swept away the odds and ends resting on the pile of maps in the navigation room and pored over their location. At last he stopped and smiled.

"Uncle," Zuko straightened, smirking ever so slightly. "I think you're right about having some fun. And I think I know just where to go."

* * *

"There it is!" Aang pointed to a string of islands on the ocean's blue horizon. The large, mountainous centre island winked in the sun, the crown jewel in a strand of glistening emeralds. "Next stop: Ho'Wan Island Carnival!"

As Appa glided towards the island's western end, the three children marveled at the structures they could see peeking out of the lush foliage and hilly terrain. Tall structures of steel and wood sketched out the skeletons of some fantastic looking rides. Every now and then, they'd catch glimpses of small cable cars or racing pods or little boats zooming by on their rails or tracks or sluices or in freefall. A wonderful aroma of sweets and fried things wafted up from the island, intertwined with musical chimes of whistles and bells. The closer they got, the wider Aang's eyes grew, the louder Sokka's stomach growled, and the more the three of them grinned.

Katara could see hundreds of people flowing through the carnival grounds, tiny flecks of bright colours weaving between the even more brightly coloured tents. But it wasn't just tents - there was a whole town down there, a permanent fairground for a year-round attraction. She began to wonder about how all the people were coming and going when a boat horn sounded. She looked and saw a massive ferry boat pulling into a dock on the north end of the island. It must have been big enough to carry hundreds of people.

Appa came to rest in a clearing near the edge of the forest. The trio nimbly clambered off and secured their gear while Momo scampered into the trees to forage for lemur fodder, and the giant bison gnawed contentedly on some long grasses.

"You two stay put and stay out of sight," Aang told his animal friends. "We'll be back soon."

The lemur and bison made noises in acknowledgement. Katara wondered how it was that Momo and Appa only understood Aang. When she had asked Momo to bring her water while she and Sokka were both ill, he had brought them everything but water. It must be an Airbender thing, she mused. They were, after all, the only traces left of the long-lost tribe. Perhaps Aang and the creatures had some kind of mental connection? Then again, birds of a feather, Katara chuckled to herself.

"C'mon Katara!" Sokka called. The boys had started ahead of her at a run. "Can't you smell the fair food?"

"Coming!"

* * *

**Read on...**


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

**Once again, I disclaim out loud: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

* * *

"Hurry up Uncle!" Zuko called from the upper deck. "What's taking you so long?" 

Uncle Iroh emerged from his cabin wearing shorts and a gaudy red and yellow short-sleeved tunic. A frayed straw hat perched atop his head, and his straw flip flops threatened to burst off his arthritic swollen feet. "So, what do you think?" he called to his nephew, grinning. "Ready to have some fun?"

Zuko grimaced at the loud getup. "I'm ready to find the Avatar, if that's what you mean," he descended the stair. "I've sent the advance scout ahead. But tell me uncle, why, exactly, did you instruct them to don civilian clothing for this assignment? I don't suppose you're trying to get them shore leave while we're this close to completing my mission?"

He said my mission, Iroh mentally noted. Anytime they were on the Avatar's trail, it was always our mission, meaning Zuko's and the crew's. But when he was close, he always seemed to take the burden on himself.

He blinked at his nephew. "Prince Zuko, you knew about Ho'Wan Island Carnival: how could you NOT know about the dress code?"

Zuko growled. "Father didn't exactly have the time to take me to an oversized playground with a war going on."

"Ho'Wan has a strict no-soldiers rule." Iroh explained. "They have very stringent laws on the people who can enter the carnival, and soldiers are not on their VIP list. Any one who has ever approached the gates in uniform has been turned away – by persuasion, by force, or by...other means."

"I don't see why father hasn't just taken his forces in and crushed this pathetic little island. It's so far from the mainland. What, maybe two or three days by boat?" Zuko thought aloud. "That'd be plenty of time to leave it in ruins."

"It may be in Earth Kingdom territory, but Ho'Wan is an island unto itself. It was built by four benders, one from each kingdom, working together, long before the war. It has its own government, its own laws, and even its own army. Yes, they have soldiers, but not the kind you and I are used to. These are guerilla warriors, uniformless but just as deadly, if not deadlier. The guerillas live among the population, doing their small part in keeping the peace. A general in your grandfather's generation once tried to annex Ho'Wan and the islands around it to impress the Fire Lord, but after just one day, the Fire Nation fleet was sent home, with only a quarter of its ships and crew. No one has tried to take the island since."

Zuko pondered this history lesson. His Uncle cleared his throat to get his attention.

"Prince Zuko... you're not going to wear THAT, are you?"

The Prince glanced down at his Fire Nation armour. "What?"

* * *

Katara had felt a little uneasy about stopping for the day, but as she and the boys joined the stream of carnival goers heading towards the main gate, she grew giddy with excitement. Neither she nor Sokka had ever been to a real carnival – the closest thing they'd had was lunar celebrations with the Water Tribe, which involved a lot of food and a bit of dancing and singing, and playing in the snow. In other words, every other day with the Water Tribe.

The air was electric with anticipation. The other people traveling the short distance from the ferry to the carnival seemed to come from all around the globe. Most of them were from the Earth Kingdom, but Katara could have sworn she spotted a couple from the Fire Nation standing off to one side, furtively avoiding conversation with anyone else. But even they seemed happy to just be there.

Katara kept hearing snatches of conversations that made her even more excited:

"…Been waiting all year…"

"…I hear the food's phenomenal…"

"…Dancing Kangabear troupe…"

"…Masks by Madam Façade are legendary…"

"…Asked my wife to marry me here 25 years ago, and here we are again…"

"…If the world were more like Ho'Wan, there wouldn't be this stupid war…"

And so on, until the bulk of the group arrived at the gates: a massive wall of timber about 20 feet high that made the exterior of the carnival look more like a small fortress. Katara could hear the music and mayhem just beyond those wooden gates. Aang bounced up and down, clutching his glider staff in both hands.

For a second, the gates did not open, and the group began to murmur in bewilderment. Suddenly, a spry looking…something… catapulted over the wall, landing lightly on its toes on a little platform eight feet up on the wall.

It was a tiny man, no taller than Aang. He had a massive grey bush of a moustache and wore raggedy tights sewn from multi-coloured strips of bright cloth and an oddly shaped hat that looked like a potato sack sewn from the same bits of coloured rags. You couldn't see his eyes through the equally bushy grey eyebrows, but you had a feeling that underneath all that wild, wiry hair, he was smiling broadly at you.

"Welcome all to Ho'Wan Island Carnival!" He squawked, waving his arms wildly. "I am Reechiripee, the mayor of Ho'Wan and all the surrounding isles. But you can all call me Papa Pipi. Hoo-hoo!" he whooped.

This got an open laugh from the rapt audience. The children giggled and guffawed.

"Heh, Pee pee!" Sokka snorted, slapping his knee. Aang was right there with him. Katara smiled.

"You're all welcome to stay here as long as you like of course, but I have a few rules, and I hope you'll all do your best to obey them." Papa Pipi pulled out a long roll of parchment that unscrolled down over the old man's booted feet and beyond the lip of the platform. The audience sobered and the children sighed in frustration. Get on with it then, Sokka's face said.

"Rule number one: you can only have FUN in Ho'Wan!"

"Rule number two: if you're not having fun, TRY HARDER!"

"Rule number three: No weapons, no soldiers, and no disturbing of The Fun. Got that?"

There was some nodding. Papa Pipi gazed at the rest of his list and scratched his head. "Hmm. Looks like I've forgotten how to read. Oh well! I can never remember if the rest were important anyhow. Well folks, have fun!"

And with that, Pipi leapt nimbly back over the wall, which immediately began to pull apart, a great sliding door set into the wall of logs.

"Yeah! Woo hoo!" Aang and Sokka scrambled inside, followed by Katara who shouted at them, "Guys, stick together! We don't want to get lost!"

Katara managed to catch Aang and Sokka by the sleeve and yank them back to her before they got lost in the crowd.

"Aw, c'mon Katara!" Sokka whined plaintively, "can't you smell the food?"

"Aang, this is your day, what do you want to do first?" Katara asked pointedly, half addressing her brother.

"Uh… I don't know…there's so much to see!" Aang's attention whip lashed around, his wide eyes trying to drink in all the colours, shapes and activity. Sokka's stomach complained loudly.

"I'm starving..." he groaned. "Can you lend me some money so I can get myself one of those kebab thingies?" he pointed to a nearby stand.

Katara hissed in her brother's ear, "We barely have any money left. We should try to spend what little we have on supplies for the rest of the trip and the extra should be for Aang's birthday."

"Birthday!" Papa Pipi appeared out of thin air at Katara's elbow, making Sokka yelp. "Did I hear you say it's your birthday?"

"Uh, no, it's my friend Aang's," Katara explained, gesturing to the giddy little monk.

"Hmm! Well, didn't you know about our rules here?" Pipi began. Katara's heart leapt to her throat, a reflex she'd developed since she'd begun traveling with Aang. "All birthday boys and girls… get anything they want to eat and ride for FREE!"

"Really?" Katara thought it was impossible, but she watched Aang's grin get even wider. Pipi pulled out a metal cuff bangle covered in gold-coloured beads and slapped it onto Aang's skinny wrist. "Cool!"

"Here, since you're with him, why don't you two share his special day – I can see the three of you are as close as peas in a pod," And with that, Pipi slapped on two more gold-beaded bracelets on each of the Water Tribe children.

"So, we can have anything we want to eat?" Sokka asked slowly.

"And ride anything we want?" Aang chirped.

"You kids have FUN now, you hear?" Pipi leapt away, bouncing on invisible springs in his feet. "And remember rule number two!"

Sokka nearly wept with joy. "Surely you are a gift from the gods," he said, caressing his bracelet.

"This is great!" Katara turned and shouted, "Thank you, Papa Pipi!"

"You're welcome!" came the faint reply over the din of the carnival.

"Now, let's make that statue over there our meeting place in case we get lost," Katara began. "There are a lot of people here and I don't want any of us to…" she turned around and realized she was talking to no one. "…wander off."

Katara sighed, rubbing her forehead. Oh well. Might as well make use of the freebies, she thought, heading for the nearest food stall.

* * *

"Latecomers!" Papa Pipi announced as he appraised the two before him. One was a stout old man in red and yellow, wearing a frayed old straw hat and sandals. The other was a surly-looking teen wearing simple black silk-trimmed pants and a matching tunic. He seemed to glower at everything. Pipi could see the boy had a nasty burn mark on the right side of his face, though he was trying his best to cover it up with a wide-brimmed straw hat.

"Let us pass," the teen barked hotly. The old man smacked him smartly across the legs with his walking stick.

"Really son, you should hold your tongue. Don't you know who you're speaking to? This is the mayor of Ho'Wan!"

"Right you are!" Pipi was overjoyed. "Come here before, have you?"

"A long time ago," the old man rumbled. "I was much younger and thinner then."

"And is this your boy?" Pipi leapt from the platform and landed an inch from the teen. Yes, it was very clearly a burn mark.

"Oh, yes, my son, ah… Kimji." The old man poked his son in the ribs. "Present yourself to the man, son."

Kimji glared at his father significantly. Pipi watched, grin still fixed to his face beneath his moustache, as the boy made a short bow at the waist, addressing him with the proper title and form. A well-bred one, if not a little on the nasty side, he thought. Still, Pipi could sense the boy's desire, the urgent need to pass the gates. He could also sense the boy really, really needed to have some fun. And with a scar like that, he probably needed more than just fun.

"Sir, I like your son. Open and honest-like, he seems," Pipi ignored the old man's suppressed snort. "Respectful. Yes. And I likes the two of you, so here's what I'm going to do for you."

He whipped out two cuff bracelets and slapped them on their wrists with lightning speed, before the boy could jerk his arm out of the way and take a defensive stance. A fighting stance Pipi had seen before, a long time ago.

"Oh, these are lovely!" the old man admired the red glass beads on the bracelet. "And they match my outfit!"

"Those bracelets are my personal gift to you," Pipi declared. "They'll get you anywhere you want to go in the carnival at no charge, and get you some services I think you'll both enjoy." He turned to Kimji, and said more somberly, "For instance, sonny, I think you'd enjoy a visit to Madam Façade's. Ever heard of her?"

"The Glamour Enchantress," Kimji said after a moment. "I've heard of her. I thought she was a hoax."

"Oh, no hoax. But that bracelet can get you a little session with her. You know what she does, hmm?"

The boy's yellow eyes narrowed. "I don't need a mask to hide my face," he said through gritted teeth.

"Didn't say you did, m'boy. But I think she can make up something for you that you'd like better. Not a mask, exactly. More like… your true face."

The old man cleared his throat. "Really, son, thank the man and we can go in and enjoy the day, hmm?"

"Thank you, sir." The scarred teen said lowly, and the two walked through the open gate.

Papa Pipi watched the two disappear into the crowds, thinking. He bounded away to oversee his kingdom.

* * *

"Aren't we lucky Zuko? Madam Façade is known around the world!" Iroh said, pointing to the bracelet as they navigated the crowd. "Don't tell me you're going to pass up the chance to meet her for free!"

"We're here for the Avatar, Uncle," Zuko – or Kimji – reminded him. "Or should I call you 'Dad'?"

"Really son, you hurt an old man's feelings," Iroh dabbed his eyes mockingly."Look! I thought her place was at the other end of the island, but I guess they moved it." Iroh pointed. They were standing in front of a great house with a steep flight of stairs leading to an oaken door. The sign that swung heavily above it read: "Madam Façade: Glamour Enchantress. Masks, Mystics, and More."

"Uncle, I'm not going in there," Zuko turned to leave, but he suddenly spotted a very familiar shade of blue standing against a bright red tent canopy. It was the water bending girl, the one that traveled with the Avatar. But she was alone. Neither her brother nor the monk were anywhere in sight. She was bent over some display and hadn't spotted him yet, intent on whatever she was looking at.

The prince was suddenly aware that he was standing very conspicuously in the centre of a clear space a little above ground from where the girl was. She would surely recognize him if she looked up. The scar…

Zuko spun around, pulling the straw hat lower over his face. "Uncle, stay here. The Avatar is here, somewhere, and I've just spotted one of his companions."

"Really? Where?" Iroh craned his neck to look around. Zuko grabbed his uncle and shoved him back down.

"I need cover. I need to follow her – she'll lead me to him." Zuko hissed.

"If it's cover you need, young master Kimji, you've come to the right place," a soft, sugary voice floated down from the landing. A tall, willowy woman in her mid-fifties stood at the door, draped in royal purple robes. She eyed Iroh with interest and smiled. "You're his father? You don't look alike."

"He looks more like… his mother." Iroh looked away, avoiding the woman's penetrating gaze.

"How did you know… my name?" 'Kimji' asked hesitantly.

"I know many things," she intoned ominously. "Also, Papa Pipi told me you'd be coming by. Please, come in, and have a cup of tea," she floated into the house. Zuko followed her through the door, but stopped his uncle from entering with him.

"Keep an eye on her," he jerked his head toward Katara. Iroh looked disappointed, but obediently headed back down the flight of stairs.

* * *

"People think my trade is in mask making," Madam Façade explained as they walked though the house. _Well, duh_, Zuko thought as he passed dozens of display cases brimming to full with hundreds of masks that stared back at him, watching his every movement with empty eyes. Maiden, warrior, priest, monkeys, dragons, clowns, gods, and fantastic creatures he had no names for: they all resided here, faces from humanity's daydreams and nightmares. A chill tickled Zuko's spine. Despite his experience with masks, this place was giving him the creeps.

"My art goes far beyond putting plaster and paper and paint together. This–" she gestured around her, "–is just a hobby. No, the art lies in seeing what is behind the mask, getting to know who is beneath it. That's what I do."

She led the teen into a darkened parlour lit by a few candles placed on the floor in the centre of the room next to a tea set. A few cushions were piled on the floor. Madam Façade indicated Zuko should sit on one.

"Your scar is not really a part of you," the enchantress said, touching her own face. "No matter how much you think it is. Your… father… he does not see that scar. Your friends, they do not see your scar. And as long as you don't point it out, no one else will either."

_Easy for you to say_, Zuko thought darkly. _You haven't a single blemish on your withering face, and I don't have a single friend._

"There is more to your life than how you appear to others," she continued. "But I think you've already figured that out."

"Honour," Zuko snapped out automatically. He hadn't meant to say anything, but this woman was working him over pretty good.

"Yes. And faith. And hope. And love." Her heavy-lidded gaze flicked over him. Zuko felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. "I can do something for you today that will change …everything. Are you afraid of change?"

"I'm not afraid of anything." Zuko wanted to shout it at her, but it barely came out as a whisper. He was enthralled. The smoothness of Madam Façade's voice seemed to wash away all the urgency Zuko had felt just minutes ago. He was looking for someone, wasn't he? And there was someone waiting outside for him…

"Close your eyes." Zuko obeyed, relaxing. He felt a coolness brush him, fingertips gently raking his cheeks, and a warm glow in his mind that grew hotter and hotter—

Zuko screamed as he felt the scar burn horribly, as if it were the same day his father had smote him down, the flesh sizzling, his left eye red with burst blood vessels, blinded by the heat. He clutched his face, writhing, barely hearing the woman calling out to him.

And suddenly the pain was gone. Zuko heard himself crying, "Father, father…" and stopped abruptly when he realized it was over. He whirled on the purple-robed woman, his clenched fists engulfed in flames. "What did you do!"

"Ah, a Firebender. I thought so." Madam Façade remarked calmly. "The spell is complete. I'm sorry I didn't warn you of the side effects, but you seemed strong. People don't usually want to go through with it if they know pain's involved."

Zuko seethed. He hated being caught off guard. Madam Façade's eyes flickered over his flaming fists. "I would not try to use your powers here, young man. The locals don't take too kindly to benders. It's a bit taboo, with the war going on. We're not part of that war here, you know. All the nations are welcome to enjoy Ho'Wan, but they have to leave their political differences at the ferry docks." She poured the tea. "Besides, if you tried to use those powers to harm anyone, the security forces would have you catapulted into the ocean before you could say 'Lord Ozai.'"

Zuko absorbed her cool voice, realizing what had happened. His flames died abruptly. She had cast her glamour spell. He strode over to the nearest mirror, hoping beyond hope…

…But the scar was still there, purple-red and shiny as ever. He turned to glare at the woman's reflection in the mirror.

"Nothing's changed! Why did you bother? What good does this do me?"

"The spell will last until sundown," Madam Façade smoothly rose from her seat on the floor cushion. "Make the most of it."

And she floated away, disappearing into the corner of the darkened room, leaving Zuko bewildered, angry, and unable to take his frustration out on anything.

* * *

Zuko found his way back along the building's corridors. He felt himself shaking with an unpleasant cocktail of rage, fear, and shock mixed together. He took a few calming, meditative breaths before he opened the door, and felt the hot noon sun on his shoulders. "Uncle, has the girl…"

Iroh was staring at him, mouth gaping.

"Prince…Zuko?"

"Uncle, what's the matter…?"

Iroh staggered towards him, grabbing his face and pulling it down so Zuko was awkwardly bent over. Iroh held the boy's face between his rough hands inspecting his left cheek. Looking for the burn. The old man had tears in his eyes. "I don't believe it…"

"Believe what, uncle? What do you see?"

"Your face… it's just like… before your father…" Iroh staggered back, a touch pale. He shook his head dismissively. "No, no, it's glamour. Illusion. Still," he managed to smile at his nephew, "It's nice to know..."

Realization dawned slowly. Your father does not see that scar. Your friends, they do not see your scar. And as long as you don't point it out, no one else will either.

So Zuko could see his scar, but his Uncle - and presumably others - could not.

Zuko smiled maliciously. Madam Façade had just given him a foolproof disguise to use until sunset. No one would recognize him, without his distinguishing scar. Not even the Avatar.

"Uncle," Zuko hissed, "Inform the troop commander that the Avatar is here. Have the troops keep an eye out for him." He shoved his straw hat into Iroh's hands. "I'm going girl-chasing."

* * *

**...Zuko can chase me anyday...**


	3. Chapter 3

**No, I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did, I wouldn't be here right now, would I?**

**

* * *

**

**I didn't think I'd get the response I have - thanks to everyone for sending me your comments! So without further ado...  
**

* * *

Aang ran all the way to the midway where the rides were, speeded along by his Airbending. Bamboo scaffolding, stone towers and steel rails intersected each other to form massive machines that made cars zip around their tracks, soar into the air, or swing about on cables. Watching it all in motion made his head spin happily. 

"Hey there, birthday boy!" called one carnie, "Take a ride on the Zipper! It's the best ride here, you'll see! Your ride is free, you know!" He shook his wrist, indicating Aang's day-pass bracelet.

"Yeah! Okay!" Aang hopped up on the platform, handing his glider staff to the carnie, and gazed up at the contraption.

It was a long arm, maybe two hundred feet high, counterbalanced by a massive load of rock at one end and secured by a sturdy rope and pulley system. A two-person enclosed cab was attached at each end of the arm. Currently, someone appeared to be occupying the cab suspended at the apex, shrieking joyfully at being suspended upside down.

The cab at the opposite end was empty. The carnie hurried him into the car, not wanting to keep the other riders waiting, and strapped the little monk into the safety harness. He slammed the door and went back to his complicated ropes, pulleys and levers.

"Here we go!" He pulled on a lever. One load of rocks descended, slowly at first, but as its momentum built, so did the speed. The arm pointing at the sky suddenly plummeted, its riders screaming all the way down.

Of course, this meant that Aang's little cab was kicked straight up. He felt gravity press him into the padded seat and he gave a whoop as the arm reached the apex of its circuit. A second of weightlessness as his stomach floated in his chest and Aang was falling, falling… to be safely caught by the Zipper arm's counterweight.

And around again – and Aang savoured the second of weightlessness that was so like gliding on his own air-bent winds. The third time around the ride lost its charm. The other cabin's passengers were still shrieking with joy. Aang felt a little dizzy, but the novelty of the ride was entirely gone.

On the tenth pass, the arm stopped to let the other passengers out. Aang hung upside-down in his seat, the binding holding him securely in his seat biting into his shoulders. The wind whistled through the cab's little windows, and he could see the entire colourful fairground through it, upside-down, the sky at his feet.

He waited and waited. Maybe the carnie was having trouble finding more passengers. The blood rushed to his head and he began to have trouble breathing, so he shifted in his seat, trying to bend at the neck so that his head was right-side-up in relation to the ground.

A voice wafted up from the ground. "Uh, son? Sorry, but you're going to have to wait a while," the carnie called apologetically. "I'm gonna need a mechanic to come and replace this cog. Get comfortable!"

"What?" Aang undid the harness and landed on the roof/floor of the cab. It shook and squealed in protest, its bolts threatening to pop.

"Aw, man…" Aang sat cross-legged and waited.

* * *

Sokka was happily welcomed by every food vendor he passed. They treated the wearers of the gold bracelets like royalty, and stuffed him full of barbecued meats and warm breads and sweets and fried things he had no idea could ever exist. If I die, this will be my heaven, he sighed happily, taking another bite of the juicy morsel-on-a-stick he'd just acquired. 

"Hey water boy!" One vendor called. His stall advertised the vendor's specialty was in authentic southern water tribe cuisine. "Want some eel jerky?"

A taste of home. Sokka drooled at the thought of Gran-Gran's eel jerky, the best in the village, and dropped the half-eaten morsel-on-a-stick into a waste bin, high-tailing it to the Water Tribe food stall.

_Home, home, home…_ the words struck a chord in Sokka's core and he suddenly realized how homesick he was. He missed Gran-Gran, and the snow, and the pelt-lined rooms. He was hot and sticky all the time now, it seemed. He guiltily wondered if leaving the tribe to follow Aang to the North Pole was a good idea. Was the tribe safe from the Fire Nation? Prince Zuko and the Fire troops had found them once – would they return to finish the job?

Sokka shook the thought from his head. The Water Tribe was strong, even if all the men had left to fight in the war. They'd be fine, he concluded uneasily, wiping the thought from his brain as he approached the vendor.

The man behind the counter wasn't a member of the water tribe, but Sokka hardly cared. The smiling vendor handed him a wad of dried meat, and Sokka bit into them hungrily.

Salty, spicy, fruity, and nothing like home. His face screwed up and he spat out the offending mouthful.

"Ugh, what is that?" Sokka's tongue hung out of his mouth.

"What, you don't like it?" The vendor asked in dismay.

"That's nothing like eel jerky. What did you do, marinate it in urine?"

"See here, young man, I've been working here for 15 years, I think I know what authentic Southern Water Tribe eel jerky should be like." The vendor scowled.

"Yeah? Well, I'm actually from the Southern Water Tribe, and let me tell ya', that ain't no eel jerky we'd eat." Sokka folded his arms and gave the man a haughty look. "It'd barely pass for firewood."

"If you're such a good cook, why don't you show me how it's done?" The vendor graciously stood aside, making room in the tiny stall for Sokka, and presented the counter with an exaggerated flourish.

Sokka sputtered. "I will!" Proud as ever, he washed his hands and donned an apron. He appraised the ingredients the vendor stocked – all locally produced, so the eel was a different kind than he was used to dealing with – and asked the vendor to describe his jerky making technique.

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong!" Sokka cried in exasperation after the vendor ran through his process. "It takes days to make this stuff right! Here, let me show you."

And he took to work, savouring memories of home.

* * *

Katara ambled along Ho'Wan's main thoroughfare. The buildings lining the main street were all permanent, stone buildings, some of them hundreds of years old, but sturdy, and well-kept. She stopped and read the historic plaques dotting the carnival town, describing how an Earthbender, Waterbender, Firebender, and Airbender had constructed this paradise together more than two hundred years ago, long before the war, and long before Aang was ever born. 

She wondered where the two boys were now. If she knew Sokka, he was probably stuffing his face. Aang wound more like be ride-hopping. She hoped he was having fun – it was his birthday, after all.

Fun… rule number one, right? Katara sadly realized she wasn't having any fun at all. Maybe she was worrying too much about her companions – but they could take care of themselves. From what she'd heard from other carnival goers, she gathered that Ho'Wan wouldn't allow Fire Nation troops to put one toe on the sand, much less gain entrance into their paradise.

Katara tried to think about the last time she'd had any fun. Since her mother had died and her father had gone to the home front, Katara had been working with Gran-Gran to help care for the younger children in the tribe. There had been fleeting moments of joy on the road with Aang and Sokka, despite the dangers in their path, but she hadn't had real fun since… well, ever.

Remember rule number two: if you're not having fun, try harder. Papa Pipi's words echoed in her mind. Well, that settled it. Katara would just have to find fun for herself.

She walked along the narrowing, down-sloping road, heading deeper into the centre of the carnival city. Most of the inns and taverns resided here, as well as the locals. A less savoury portion of the tourist population hovered in these parts too. The canopied stalls thinned to be replaced by more permanent stores and shops. Katara toyed with the notion of shopping for clothes, but realized with dismay that the gold beaded bracelet probably wouldn't buy her a pair of socks, much less an entire new outfit. Too bad – the two changes of Water Tribe robes she'd packed were starting to wear thin.

She stopped to admire the window display of a jewelry shop. Silver pendants and wrought copper bracelets gleamed on velvet and satin cushions. Katara caught her breath at the sight of a silver bracelet made up of links that looked like little waves of water. She touched her mother's recently reclaimed necklace clasped around her neck, wondering if her heirloom had once been bought from a shop like this.

She was about to go in and ask when she froze. In the window's reflection, she could see a figure in black, watching her from the other side of the road a short distance away. Something about his wide stance, the way he skulked just behind that statue, and his intense glare made her extremely nervous. She slowly turned, pretending to inspect a street sign, and looked out the corner of her eye to get a glimpse of the stalker. No one was there.

Still uneasy, he walked quickly away, not daring to turn around, and descended into the city.

* * *

Zuko watched his prey make her way down the street and he followed her, never taking his eye off the blue robes. Did she even know how remarkable her tribe's colours were? It was a shameful miracle that he hadn't caught them yet: after all, how could a 12-year-old boy monk tattooed with arrows, two rather foreign-looking Water Tribe children, and a flying lemur, all traveling on the back of a giant flying bison, escape anyone's notice? 

Too engrossed in his pursuit, Zuko barely noticed as a slender bare arm silently snaked around his. "Hey handsome," a liquid voice cooed. Zuko was shocked to find a moon-faced local girl hanging off his arm. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" She batted her eyelashes seductively.

Zuko, slightly nauseated yet pleasantly flattered, gently tried to extricate his arm from the young lady's vice-like hold. It proved more difficult than he'd imagined. "I'm looking for someone."

"Well, you've found two someones," another honey-dripping voice whispered in his other ear. He turned to find a sylph of a girl clinging to his other arm with manicured talons. "How about you join us for a cup of tea?"

"Back off, Lani, this one's mine," the moon-faced girl hissed. The sylph, Lani, was undaunted.

"Oh, come now Kerima, surely he's enough man for the both of us." She winked knowingly at Zuko, giving his biceps a firm squeeze. "Mmm, nice." She purred.

Intrigued as he was, Zuko tore himself away, practically wrenching his arms off. He was a little surprised at himself for not having punched either of them out. Of course, hitting girls wasn't exactly honorable, especially if they were unarmed. "Thank you ladies, but I have a previous engagement." He bowed slightly, and found himself smiling.

Well, this is a change, he thought, viewing himself through the mind's eye. Exiled, scarred, temperamental Prince Zuko, being polite to two hussies who'd just tried to take him for a sucker. He paced as quickly away as he could, once more catching sight of the blue robe moving through the crowd.

"See what you've done! You had to ruin it!" The girls began a nasty battle of unkind words.

Zuko walked away, smiling at the chaos he'd left in his wake. _Well, I guess some things don't change_, he thought, and quickly took to retracing the Water Tribe girl's path.

* * *

Katara walked on, passing more shops, inns, taverns, and unmarked buildings that a lot of scruffy looking men were going in and out of. She didn't even want to imagine what those buildings housed. All the while, she watched her shadow, growing long in the late winter's early afternoon, making sure no other menacing shade interposed from behind. 

Glancing warily at the window reflections, and saw him again. The figure in black was following her. Panicking, Katara quickened her pace and started weaving around people, trying to lose the stalker. Then she was nearly running up the street, making wild lefts and rights at each intersection until she had no idea where she was pointed anymore.

_Sokka, Aang, where are you guys?_ She pleaded silently. She knew she shouldn't panic. There were plenty of people around, and no one would try to hurt her here in broad daylight, would they?

Katara turned into what she thought was a main street, but it narrowed and twisted about behind the buildings. She found herself in an alleyway with only one exit and entrance, and she could not turn around with the man in black stalking her.

Her heart palpitated wildly. _Are we having fun yet?_ She asked herself. She chanced a quick look behind her and shrieked as she ran into a solid body. Someone grabbed her wrists and yanked them up.

* * *

**Ooh, fancy cliffhanger! What will happen next?**


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

**Gulp) Gosh, I've gotten so many great reviews, I feel all war and fuzzy inside, like a peach turned inside out... how very unnatural. I'm even getting a little nervous that all the hard-core Zutara fans out there might end up hating me in the end...**

**Sorry, you'll have to hold out and see what's to come! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I hate cliffies too, but hell, it's a great marketing strategy.**

**

* * *

**

**(guitar strum): Oooh, I'd rather own Avatar/than this imaginary guitar/But I don't and I can't, so I won't and I waahn't... **

* * *

"Well, little water girl, what are you doing here in the backwash?" The young man holding her wrists was in his late teens, greasy and dressed in rags. Two other young thugs emerged from the shadows, grinning at her menacingly. 

"I hate tourists," one spat. "This ain't their island. What she doin' here anyway?"

The other picked his fingernails with a short blade, sneering. "Don' like Water Tribe neither. They ain't don' nuthin' for us."

The greasy goon held up Katara wrists and inspected her. "Awful pretty though, ain'tcha?" Katara winced as the metal bracelet cut into her wrist. "And one of Pipi's special ones! Well, little girl, that bracelet could get me and my boys a lot of fun for a while. But first, how 'bout we have some fun with—Oof!"

Katara jammed her knee as hard as she could into the teen's stomach and wrenched her hands away. She turned to run, but sprawled to the ground as the boy tackled her knees. If she could only open her water skein, she'd be able to water-whip the three hoodlums off her. As it was, there wasn't a useful puddle in sight.

"Let go of me!" Katara kicked at the boy's head, but he held firm. The other goons loomed menacingly.

It occurred to her to scream for help.

She let out an ear-piercing shriek that reverberated off the alley's walls, making even her ears ring. She struggled wildly, and was about to let out another cry, but the smaller of the two thugs sat on her back, pressing all the air out of her lungs. The other wrenched her arm out at an unnatural angle, trying the lever the gold-beaded bracelet off her wrist.

Katara cried out as her arm twisted around. She thought she heard a pop as her shoulder dislocated. Her lungs ached and she was gasping for air, but she kept struggling, kicking out with the little strength she had left.

_Aang… Sokka… Help!_ She pleaded as her vision blurred.

"HEY!"

Suddenly, the weight was lifted off her back and the other thug let go of her arm. A sharp pain shot through her shoulder as she tried to lever herself up and see what was happening.

A pair of soft black suede boots stood inches from her face. She craned her neck up. The man in black who had been following Katara was now standing over her. He didn't say anything. He wasn't looking down at her so she couldn't see his face.

"Well, well, another tourist," drawled the head goon's voice. "And what nation are you from? The Mud Tribe?" The two other thugs snorted.

The figure in black didn't say anything when he leapt at them. Katara scrambled onto her knees, wincing at the strangely flopping muscles in her left arm, and she sat down hard, her back against the wall, gasping for air. She watched the dreamlike sequence before her through the shapes and light dancing in her eyes.

The man in black kicked, one foot swinging and hitting the biggest goon squarely in the jaw, knocking him out cold. The smaller goon with the short blade jabbed at him, but the man in black easily deflected the poorly aimed stabs with a graceful swoop of his arm. He grabbed the kid by the collar and dashed him against the wall face first. The little goon slid to the ground, unconscious.

Instead of fleeing, the head goon took up an offensive stance and made to strike. The man in black stood still, waiting to receive the blow. In the goon's withdrawn arm, a wicked knife glinted.

Katara cried out. Not distracted for a second, the man in black sidestepped, dodging the goon's lunge, and took him down with a swift chop to the back of his skull. The knife clattered away harmlessly. He nudged the moaning pile of bodies with his toe and turned to face Katara.

Katara nearly swooned. The man in black was only almost a man: a teenager, maybe only a few years older than herself. And he was very cute. He'd be quite handsome in his later years. _I've just been rescued by a knight in shining armour_, she thought in a daze.

"You shouldn't be walking these streets alone." He chastened her. Then a little more softly, "Are you alright?"

Katara snapped back to the reality of pain. Her shoulder screamed. "I think my shoulder's dislocated." She uttered between clenched teeth.

The teen bent down and touched her shoulder, his handsome face studying her arm tentatively. The muscles and joints felt all wrong under his fingertips. He probed her arm gently and said, "Nothing's broken. But I'm going to have to set your shoulder. Brace yourself."

And before she could object and ask for a real doctor, the teen pushed her back against the wall and firmly shoved the shoulder back into place with a _pop snap!_ The pain blinded Katara momentarily, but she didn't cry out, too stunned at what he'd just done. The sharp pain was gone, replaced by a dull ache. She tested the arm, rotating the shoulder. It seemed to be working like normal.

"Um, thanks." She stood awkwardly, brushing herself off and inspecting her scrapes and bruises. The teen was already turning away. She shook herself and followed him out of the alley. "I mean, thank you… for helping me. I don't know what those goons would have done if you hadn't come along."

"Uh, sure," the teen was looking everywhere but directly into her face, as if he were searching for the source of the voice that was thanking him. "Are you… with anyone?"

Katara blushed. A rather forward question for someone she'd just met but—

She realized what he'd meant to ask and sheepishly replied. "No… well, yes, but I lost them almost as soon as I got in here."

"Oh." The teen looked down at her finally. "Are you going to find them?"

"Well, eventually, I hope, but this place is so big.…" She felt the heat of a blush rising up her neck as she found herself studying the teen's features. The long pointed chin, the golden eyes, the defined cheekbones, all set in a heroically tragic clench. His hair was tied in a loose ponytail, knotted at the top of his head. The rest of his scalp was shaved bald, a style popular with many teens. She looked away, afraid that she'd go blind staring into that beautiful face for too long. "Are you here alone?" she asked.

"No," the teen replied, looking around again. "I'm with… my father. But I've lost him too."

"Oh! Well, maybe we can help each other out. I can help you track down your father, and you can help me look for my friends." She offered.

The boy smiled to himself. "Yes. That would be helpful."

"My name's Katara," she offered brightly.

"Call me Kimji." The teen replied mildly, flashing a smile that altogether blinded Katara.

* * *

Zuko walked next to the water girl, feeling as happy as a cat with a canary in its clutches. She didn't recognize him! He gave her several sidelong glances, making sure she wasn't faking her open liking of him. But she continued to watch the road, a slight blush in her cheeks. 

He nearly cackled at the deliciousness of his plot. This naive girl would lead him straight to the Avatar. His troops would rally together, capture the boy monk, and set sail for Fire Nation territory on the double. This was going to be too easy.

"What are you smiling about?" The girl asked him. "What's so funny?"

"Huh? Oh, I was, ah…" Zuko wavered. "I was thinking about… how I decked that guy back there."

"Oh," Katara looked bemused. "I just hope they're okay. You really walloped them."

"They deserved it," Zuko spat fiercely. "Attacking a girl in broad daylight, using hidden weapons – disgraceful! I'd have taught them a real lesson if…if…"

If she hadn't been standing there as a witness? If he wasn't more concerned about finding the Avatar? If he'd been just a little angrier? Zuko trailed off. He was suddenly at a loss for words. None of them sounded right just now.

"You stopped them. That was enough." Katara looked down, smiling. "I owe you big time."

Silence hung between them for what felt like hours, and Zuko looked at the girl, feeling a little foolish, and just a bit pleased with himself. Of course he would have saved the girl from those thugs. How else would she lead him to the Avatar? On crutches? It helped his pride that he didn't like bullies who picked on defenseless girls. And it didn't hurt at all that she was rather cute.

"Hey!" she pointed at his wrist. "You have one too!"

"Oh, the bracelet?" He was thankful for the change of subject. "Yeah, that Papa Pipi character gave this to me."

"I got one too. Those goons tried to take it from me." She showed him hers. "What's yours for?"

Zuko instantly thought about Madam Façade and the spell.

"He said it was a VIP pass. It's supposed to get me into any of the attractions I want." He replied.

"Really? Mine is for free food and rides. Hey, you want something to eat?" She asked.

Zuko suddenly realized he was famished. He hadn't even had breakfast with Uncle Iroh, being too distracted by tracking the Avatar.

_Tracking the Avatar, that's why he was here… _

"Yeah, actually, I am kind of hungry." Zuko heard himself say. He stopped himself from slapping his palm over his gaping mouth as if he'd said something profane.

It was as though he'd lost control of his tongue. Why had he just agreed to share a meal with this peasant? He was a prince, for Fire's sake!

He suffered himself to be led towards the carnival food tents, all the while screaming silently, _You're here to find the Avatar and reclaim your honour! What are you doing consorting with the enemy! _

The water girl spoke pleasantly to a vendor, who smilingly handed over two sticks of barbecued meat. She handed Zuko one and ate hers with relish. The prince inspected the meat dubiously. It was either some kind of chicken, or a rat.

"It's really good," Katara said chewing. "Try it."

He nibbled at it dubiously. It was edible, even tasty. Soon he was gobbling it down as messily as the water girl, who had crumbs of carbon-burn bits stuck to her lips. He felt the corners of his mouth twitch, seeing her messy face. She was really quite pretty, when he thought about it. With some nice silk robes and a good hair washing…

_What do you think you're doing? Get a grip on yourself and snap out of it!_ Zuko's brain screamed.

"So, where to next?" Katara asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Where do you think your father's gone to?"

"Huh? Oh," Zuko was momentarily startled by this question. "He, uh, he could be anywhere."

He pictured Uncle Iroh and his walking stick, and tried to piece together a cover story where his uncle was the "I like walking" kind of father – that would place him beyond finding distance.

"He's quite… er… athletic."

Yeah right, athletic. That described Uncle Iroh about as much as the word 'untroubled' described Zuko.

"So what's he look like?" She asked. "I just realized I can't help you find him if I don't know what to look for!" She laughed at this sudden insight.

Zuko paused before giving a generic description of just about any man from the Fire Nation. He couldn't describe Iroh, in case she actually did spot him. So the dimensions and details were vague: about this tall, dark hair tied up like his, around middle age, not fat, not thin, neatly dressed, and so on.

"How about your friends? What do they look like?" He asked, knowing exactly what the answer was. _Better play the part,_ he reminded himself firmly.

Katara blew out a breath. "Well, that's the thing, you'd be able to find them in any other crowd, but there are just so many people here…" and she described them blandly: a 12-year-old bald monk boy with arrows tattooed all over him, and her brother, who wore the same colours as herself, but frowned a lot more.

"Twins?" Asked Zuko, feigning interest.

"Thank god, no." She laughed. Zuko chuckled too, mortified at himself.

_Consorting with the enemy, consorting with the enemy… _his brain taunted in singsong.

"Let's keep walking," she said.

"Lead on, milady," Zuko swept a treacherously goofy bow. He cringed at himself. Where had that come from?

But the gallant gesture won a musical laugh from the pretty water girl. Which for some reason, made Zuko feel even goofier.

* * *

After walking a while, Katara began to notice the looks other girls were giving her and Kimji as they passed. She realized with a shock that the narrow-eyed look had a name: envy. 

They were jealous of her! Katara! What was wrong with them anyhow? She was only a simple Water Tribe girl keeping company with a handsome young man…

_Oh._

She wasn't sure whether to be pleased or embarrassed.

"So where are you from?" Katara asked. Kimji took a moment before he replied, scanning the crowd with those narrowed gold eyes that seemed oh-so distantly familiar to her.

"Uh, it's a tiny village. You won't have heard of it. It's on the edge of the Earth Kingdom. Far from here. Really far." He floundered and shut his mouth.

"Oh. I see." Starting a conversation with him was like pulling teeth. She'd have to try a different tactic. The opportunity presented itself as they rounded the next bend.

"Ooh, look at that! Isn't it beautiful?"

Kimji stopped to look where she was pointing. A miniature garden flourished in this main intersection. Katara headed toward it, marveling at the multitude of flowers blossoming in their planters. She went to each blossom, drinking in their flowery scent. Kimji stood at the edge of the garden, watching her impassively.

"C'mon, Kimji, come into the garden," She took his hand and lead him in. He came willingly as she drew him to the centre attraction. The warmth of his hand clasped loosely around hers sent a little thrill pulsing up her arm and into the rest of her body.

At the heart of the garden, a shallow marble basin held a plain conical fountain of polished rock. Spring water noisily gushed and burbled from the cone's apex. A hot, blue-orange flame danced on the water's glassy surface. Other garden visitors were tossing coppers into the fountain, aiming for the hole at the apex.

"Fountains like this are supposed to signify eternity," she said thoughtfully. "This plaque here says the four benders who built Ho'Wan erected this garden to remind everyone of how people can put aside their differences and build something beautiful and lasting."

They stood there for what seemed like forever, watching the flame dance on the water's surface, their fingertips still touching. It was a moment in time Katara would never forget, even into her old age.

"Oil," Kimji said distantly. "The spring water has a bit of oil in it. I can smell it. It's probably in the ground and is leaking into the water supply. That's why the flame can burn on the water."

"Oh." Katara let go of his hand, frowning at the teen's bland matter-of-factness. The moment was gone. "Well, it's still a nice fountain." She read the rest of the plaque. "The other thing it says here is that if you throw a coin into the apex, it means your love will burn for eternity.

Kimji stared at the fountain of eternity, lost in thought. Katara watched him silently, seeing the shifting moods in his eyes. He turned away abruptly.

"We should move on," he said shortly.

Katara harrumphed. She was wrong. Starting a conversation with him wasn't like pulling teeth; it was like trying to pull Appa's teeth.

* * *

Zuko was deeply disturbed. He had followed the water girl into the garden, watching her flit from flower to flower like a blue butterfly, and he'd found himself compelled to reach out and touch her. Only years of training had stayed his hand. Control, that's what fire was about. Zuko could shoot cascades of fire from his hands and raise walls of flame that could consume a forest in minutes. Surely the Prince of Firebenders could keep his hands to himself? 

And without warning, she had gently taken his hand and led him to the natural marvel that was the fountain of eternity, her delicate fingertips resting coolly in his warm paw. Then he remembered uttering some dull fact about how geology would allow the fountain to exist, and the soothing coolness in his hand was instantly gone. So focused was he on the sensation of her skin on his that he'd barely heard her say anything until she said the word "love."

That had shocked him out of his daze. What was he doing, standing here while the Avatar was so close? While his honour was just within his reach?

A voice deep in the back of his mind told him not to worry, to enjoy the day while it lasted, and to count himself lucky for the chance to be young for once: to be the teenage boy he had never gotten to know.

But that wasn't going to be easy, not by a long shot. This simple water peasant girl was making it very difficult to be a teenage boy. He found he didn't want to say anything stupid to her, so he kept quiet, but instantly regretted his silence as he sensed her trying very hard to draw him out. When he did say anything, it sounded awkward and clumsy, and that made him feel even stupider, so he'd clamp down again.

So on he plodded, pretending to look around for his lost "father" and answering as shortly as he could so he would not have to meet those liquid blue eyes. He knew deep down inside that he'd forget himself entirely if he let himself drown in those eyes.

_Avatar, Avatar, Avatar…_ His brain reminded him.

_Hush, I'm thinking,_ he quelled the voice. Damn! His thoughts were completely absorbed by this faked personality. Kimji had taken over his thoughts and actions! Damn his uncle for giving his thoughts and feelings a name! Damn that glamour enchantress for giving Kimji a face!

Maybe he could reassert himself. Kidnap the girl. Take her back to the ship and use her as bait for the Avatar. That would surely be better than playing this charade, no? Of course, he didn't have a single soldier to back him up, and he was standing in a crowded carnival in broad daylight. How far could he possibly get with an unconscious girl slung over his shoulder?

Katara wandered up to a window stocked with trinkets and made some blithe comments about the craftsmanship of the jewelry on display. She indicated her mother's necklace around her neck and said something about it, and Zuko carefully pretended to be interested, though he hadn't listened to a word she'd said.

He knew about the necklace, of course – he had carried it in his pocket for weeks until his last encounter with the Avatar at the nunnery some time ago. He hadn't known it, but while it had been in his possession, he had made a habit of rubbing the pendant's etchings in his pocket with his thumb and forefinger whenever he was plotting against the Avatar. Something about touching the cool metal had calmed him, made his mind clear.

Zuko's brain screamed and slapped him as he found himself reaching out to touch the pendant around her delicate neck. He snatched his hand back as though he'd been burned. Luckily for the Fire Prince, Katara hadn't seen him do it. She was too focused on looking in the shop window.

As the water girl admired the window display, Zuko caught sight of his reflection in the glass and was momentarily shocked by the scarred face looking back at him. Only, it didn't seem as bad as usual.

Usual? He'd woken up to that hideous deformity every morning for the past two years. How was today any different?

Another part of him panicked. Could Katara see his burn? No wait, if she had she would have run away by now, screaming. The thought of her abandoning him so abruptly brought a lump to his throat. _Don't be ridiculous,_ he told himself. But the forlorn feeling remained.

"Hey, look, a shadow puppet show!" She exclaimed. "We used to do those in my tribe all the time when I was a kid."

_We should really try to find your friends, don't you think?_ His brain prompted him with mental flashcards.

"Would you like to go see it?" Kimji asked, holding up his red-beaded bracelet.

_Aww, forget this, I'm outta here._ Zuko's brain fizzled out, giving up hope of turning him back to the task of finding the Avatar. A crushing weight seemed to lift from his mind. Zuko found himself smiling openly down at the pretty water girl.

Katara's cerulean eyes lit up. Zuko's fatal mistake was looking into those two deep pools. He was lost forever.

The Avatar could wait. Anyhow, the enchantment would last several more hours. It wasn't as if Katara would leave without her friends, nor her friends without her. And Uncle Iroh probably wasn't ready to receive him anyhow – he was probably having a cup of tea somewhere right at that very moment.

He was just having some fun. That was normal for a teen, right?

* * *

Iroh normally loved this kind of place – the food, the shopping, the colourfully-dressed people. But just now, looking for the troop commander or any of the 25 members of the advance scout in this place was like trying to find Pai-sho tile in a rice silo. He sat down heavily on a stone bench, fanning himself with his straw hat. 

"You look tired, esteemed elder," a moon-faced girl appeared at his elbow. Iroh smiled. He liked that she had addressed him as 'esteemed elder', unlike his nephew, who sometimes called him 'old man'.

"I'm exhausted," he rumbled. "Not as young as I used to be, you know."

The moon-faced girl smiled pleasantly at him. "Please, come with me to the teahouse. I'll bring you some refreshments and ginseng tea, and you can rest. I can give you a massage as well, if it would please you."

Iroh smiled and accepted the young girl's invitation, taking her arm and following her to a large ornate building. She clamped down on his upper arm with a vice-like grip. _Healthy girl_, he thought, wincing as one of her fingernails dug in. Being too gentlemanly, he did not fight to loosen her grip.

She led him up the short flight of stairs, and walked him into the cool building. They made their way down a long corridor, passing a number of occupied private compartments where pretty girls entertained and fed guests. They did not enter any of the empty rooms – she seemed to be leading him to the back of the building. She laughed when he inquired where they were headed.

"Oh, esteemed elder, I would not put you in _those_ rooms with the other clients," she said simply. "I have a special room for you." And with that, she slid back a panel and waved him in.

It was rather dark. It took a while for his eyes to adjust, but then he realized the room was full of other people. Men. About 25 men.

"Wha—?"

A bright light flashed and Iroh shielded his eyes. In that moment before blindness, Iroh realized his mistake. The other occupants of the room were the members of the advance scout, hog-tied and gagged. They all wore the glittering red-beaded bracelets.

Before Iroh could react, something hit his skull with a dull thud. Blackness engulfed him as he fell to the ground.

* * *

**Poor Uncle Iroh. I wonder what he'd say if he saw Zuko now...? **


	5. Chapter 5

**

* * *

**

** I own Avatar! No wait, that's a stale muffin. I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sorry, my mistake... (munch, munch)**

* * *

"We're almost done here, birthday boy! How're you holding up?" The carnie called from the ground. 

Aang sighed. "I'm fine!" he yelled. Then, muttering to himself, "Except that I'm bored out of my skull." How long had it been? An hour? Two? More? He had watched the clouds float over the horizon all day, with the carnival spinning and whirling beneath him tauntingly. He cursed himself for not staying with the others – at least they'd be in this mess with him so he'd have someone to talk to.

A loud clang snapped Aang out of his self-pity. "Oops!" came the carnie's voice from below. "Looks like you'll have to wait some more, son, the axle's snapped."

Aang screamed. "That's_ it_!" Inhaling, Aang burst the cab door open with a fierce gust of air. He clambered out onto the top of the car, feeling his joints ache from being scrunched up inside the tiny cab. He looked down: two hundred feet up and nothing to slow or break his fall. He began to wonder about whether breaking out of the now safe-seeming cab was a good idea. The cab rocked and creaked under his shifting weight.

Should he call Appa? The whole idea of leaving the remarkable bison to hide in the woods was to make sure his presence wasn't noticed. But under the circumstances—

Aang didn't have time to pull out his bison whistle. The cab creaked, cracked, and fell free from the swinging arm, Aang tumbling down with it.

The Airbender automatically gathered the wind beneath him, letting it catch his poncho to slow the fall. He balled the air together and tried to ride it down, but he was too high up: the wind ball had nothing to resist against. The ball dissipated pathetically, and he plummeted, not hearing his own scream as he plunged toward the earth, tumbling end over end in an uncontrolled fall. He concentrated, and brought a huge rush of wind together to push him towards some soft looking tent canopies, focusing on turning himself over in free fall so he'd land on his tush. If only he had his glider.

But he did have his glider! Aang flipped over, spotted his glider staff resting against the rails, and sent a gust of wind to pop it open. He sucked in a breath, drawing the staff towards him. It came in a tightly controlled cyclone, just in time for Aang to grab a hold of before he was hit the ground.

The glider jerked him up, just as the cab smashed against the ground, splintering into tiny pieces wood and twisted metal. Aang billowed more air beneath him as he executed a perfect loop-de-loop, a tight spiral, and a perfect landing back on the platform where he had started in front of the carnie.

"Now THAT, was a fun ride," Aang said, eyes glittering, pulse racing.

The carnie stared at him, mouth agape. Aang glanced over his shoulder at the pile of debris that was the cab. "Uh, sorry about the damage." He sprinted away in search of Sokka and Katara.

* * *

"And that is how you make real stewed sea prunes," Sokka finished with a flourish. A small gathering of the area food vendors oohed and ahhed, tasting the goopy concoction and nodding affirmatively to each other. The Water Tribe food vendor took notes rapidly. 

"Now for dessert, some people like to have sweetened pot stickers with caviar, but I'm going to show you a cheaper way of making them with these nuts…"

"Sokka!" Aang called from the back of the crowd. He stopped and smirked at him. "Nice apron."

"Aang!" Sokka abruptly left the stall, red in the face. "Where's Katara?"

"Huh? I thought she was with you."

"No, I thought… aw jeez…" Sokka tore off the apron and chef's hat and tossed them back to the vendor. "We'd better go find her before she has a fit about leaving her behind. Hey," Sokka suddenly remembered the reason they had all come to Ho'Wan. "Are you having a fun birthday?'

"Well, not at first. But like Pipi said, remember rule number two!"

They scurried away, retracing their steps back to the place where they last saw her.

* * *

Iroh blinked blearily. He was lying on the floor, his arms cinched behind his back and tied to his feet, which were also bound. A bitter, fuzzy taste in his mouth told him he was gagged, and by the scent of it, the gag had been soaked in some kind of drug that was keeping him from focusing. 

"Well, good morning there!" a pair of colourful boots appeared in his blurry field of vision, but from the strange cackle, Iroh knew the voice belonged to Papa Pipi. He craned his neck to look up at the bristly, gnome-like man, but was stopped when a slender white foot mashed down on his cheek. He grunted through the gag.

"Don't be too rough on him, Kerima," Pipi cautioned. "Don't you know who this esteemed elder is?"

"I know he's a dirty Firebender," she ground her heel into Iroh's face. He squirmed. At least she washed her feet more regularly than he did.

"Don't bother trying to get up, you'll only hurt yourself more." Ho'Wan's mayor hopped up and perched on a stool. He addressed the room: "You'll all be off this island soon enough, but I'm just waiting on one more. Tell me, _General Iroh_," Pipi peered down at the old man, his eyes glittering wickedly, "Where is boy you were with? Where is the Fire Prince?"

Iroh looked up dizzily into Pipi's benevolent face. How did he know? How had they singled out every one of the troops?

"I almost had him," Kerima whined plaintively, "But Lani decided she wanted a piece of the pie too."

"What, I have to round up all these ugly, stinking soldiers and you get the handsome prince?" An indignant voice came from the other side of the room. "I don't think so!"

Some of the conscious soldiers groaned indignantly through their gags in protest.

"Girls, stop it," Papa Pipi commanded flatly. They shut up. "That boy is the only reason we're not sending these Fire Nation folk home in pieces." He turned back to Iroh.

"Madam Façade had a good look at the boy's soul, Iroh. She's giving him a chance. She sees more behind any mask we'll ever wear, and I trust her judgment implicitly. You're a lucky one, oh Dragon of the West. That boy of yours has got a bigger role to play in our futures than you think, and his will is strong. It's the heart that has to change. He's got a good head start though, and Madam Façade's told me that's from _your_ good influence..."

Iroh's head spun. He could barely understand anything the man was saying. All he could see and feel was the drug-induced dream he was having of bathing in a giant steaming cup of ginseng tea….

* * *

Katara walked out of the theatre with Zuko/Kimji, laughing together. They animatedly reviewed the shadow puppet show, a comedy about a boy, a girl, and an insane fortuneteller who kept giving them ridiculous advice to win each other's hearts. They walked and walked, forgetting they were ever looking for anyone. 

Katara sighed happily. Conversation was easy with this marvelous looking teen now, and he seemed eager to share his thoughts about whatever came to mind.

They meandered aimlessly for a while, stopping once for sweets, and perused a bazaar as they munched their gooey confections.

"Hey, neat!" Katara's eye caught a brightly coloured kite in the shape of a flying lemur. It looked like Momo with rabies. "Aang would love that!"

"Your brother?" Zuko asked, licking his fingers.

"No, the Av—" Katara caught herself. "My friend, who we're traveling with. It's his birthday today."

Katara didn't see it as she inspected the kite, but the smile that had so radiantly lit Zuko's face had fallen. "I think I'll get this for him." She picked it up and haggled with the vendor while Zuko watched her, thinking.

_I'm baaaack… _his brain piped up. _Ready to go Avatar-hunting again, lover boy? _

_No, I'm not. Leave me alone. _Zuko replied, but his brain crossed its mental arms and waited, waving a little flag that said 'honour' on it.

"What?" she asked, seeing his fallen face. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh…" How to cover this swift change of mood? "This friend… he's special to you?"

Zuko mentally bashed his head repeatedly against an imaginary wall. _Here, let me help you, _his brain offered. Awkward. Clumsy. Worst of all, it was a question he really had wanted to ask her… all day… since he'd met her….

Katara blushed. "Aang's just a friend. And a monk. He's got… more important things to worry about."

Zuko nodded, but the answer didn't satisfy him. "So you're not committed?" he blurted. He'd meant to ask, "So you're not together?" but his words stumbled over each other. The ease he'd felt with her minutes ago evaporated.

Katara tilted her head to one side, looking at him questioningly. "I'm committed to him in that my brother and I promised to get him where he needs to go."

"And where _are_ you going?" Zuko asked a little too forcefully.

_Yes! _His brain hissed triumphantly. _Back in business! _

Katara suddenly felt extremely uneasy discussing Aang and Sokka with Kimji. She'd almost blurted out that Aang was the Avatar, and now he was asking leading questions about their mission. She had to turn this conversation back somehow.

"Weren't you just asking about whether or not I was with Aang?" she teased cautiously, folding her arms in what she hoped looked like a casual and slightly seductive way. They stopped in an archway leading out of the bazaar, overlooking a part of the town. The sun glowed orange near the horizon.

She watched Kimji's gold eyes shift through myriad moods. They were so revealing, like paneless windows into his soul. Was that panic she saw? His face went the cutest shade of crimson she'd ever seen.

_Think Zuko, think. Salvage this before she gets off the topic of the Avatar!_ His brain jumped up and down.

"I – I'm not interested in _you_!" He shouted.

The words hit the two like a ton of Appa's dung, ringing in their ears as the echo redounded in the stone archway.

_Not…not…not…you…you…you…_

Zuko gawped, horrified at what he'd just said.

_What are you doing! _Zuko's brain kicked him in the shin. _I said 'don't let her get away', not 'drive her as far away from you as you can!' Idiot! _

Katara stood frozen, her eyes wide, her lips parted in shock. It was as though he'd slapped her in the face. The only colour in her cheeks came from the glow of the sun that no longer radiated heat for her.

Zuko broke the deadly silence, "Katara, I didn't mean—"

The look in her eyes changed from shock to outrage, to disgust, to pure grief, and back to anger. She spun on her heel and bolted, hiding her face in her hands, running blindly down the hill. She dropped the kite in her wake.

"Katara!" Zuko shouted after her.

_Go after her, moron, it's what knights in shining armour do. _A completely different part of his brain said. _And that's what you are to her. Were, anyhow. _

_Also, you won't find the Avatar unless she's with you,_ his normal brain reminded him.

Zuko ran after the water girl, catching glimpses of the flickering blue robe through the crowds. The jostling of heads showed him the path she was blindly plowing through the throngs of people. 

_Isn't this where we started?_ He asked himself despondently.

_Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll run into another bunch of thugs you can rescue her from, eh?_ His brain mocked his sarcastically.

* * *

Katara ran, tears streaming down her face. I won't cry, she steeled herself. If she let out a single sob, she would break down entirely and collapse on the cobblestone streets. She had to get away, as far away as she could, find Aang and Sokka, get out of this weird place. She knew it was a bad idea to come to Ho'Wan. And she definitely wasn't following either Rules Number One or Two now. 

"Katara!" she heard that insufferable Kimji call. He was following her. Let him try. She dodged through the streets for the second time that day, only this time she was avoiding "the man in black" to spite him. She wasn't afraid of him. No, she could see right through him now.

She just couldn't face him at the moment.

* * *

Zuko raced after her. Stubborn girl. Why didn't she listen to his advice in the first place? _You shouldn't be walking these streets alone_, he had said. That had only been a few hours ago. It felt like another lifetime. 

_Salvage this, be diplomatic, you're a prince - start acting like one!_ He told himself. His brain agreed and advised him sagely, in Uncle Iroh's voice:

_Stop her, apologize to her, tell her you're in love with her—_ the brain clamped its mental mouth in horror.

_Me? In love? With a Waterbender? _

Zuko nearly crashed into a cabbage seller hauling his wares in a cart up the hill. The cabbage man shouted profanities at him, lamenting the cabbages that rolled after Zuko's heels, threatening to trip him up.

_You didn't hear me say it, I didn't say anything, you've never loved anyone, that's how it is, yup, that's you, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, stone cold fire, that's you champ!_ His brain babbled.

_In love? Me? Katara? With?_ The crowds parted for Zuko as he barreled down the street. His heart raced, but not from the exertion. His brain made him blind to the world as it conjured up excuses and logic and things that made him try very hard to remember that Katara was only a tool: a key to capturing the Avatar.

_I'm in love with her_.

The realization made his heart lurch. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, having one's heart in one's throat.

He called her name again, tasting the syllables on his tongue._ Kah-Tahr-Rah. _

He'd make it right. He'd stop her, hold her hands, make light-hearted jokes, buy her a pretty trinket…anything to make the hurt in his heart go away.

_Anything to get her to lead you to the Avatar, you mean. _

_Shut up!_ He yelled at himself._ One thing at a time! _

He caught a glimpse of the distinctive blue robe darting into a side street. He turned in to the next street to cut her off.

* * *

Stupid Kimji! Stupid Aang! Stupid Sokka! Stupid boys! Stupid world! Stupid stupid stupid! Katara ran, wiping the salty tears away with her sleeve. How could anyone that good looking be interested in a girl like her anyway? First Jet, now Kimji. Would her love life be nothing but a string of infatuation beaded with heartbreaks? 

She longed to be at home, snuggling in her fur-lined sleeping bag on top of the seal pelts with Gran-Gran sewing in the corner and the other women of the tribe murmuring in low voices about womanly things. She'd been in the company of boys too long. Boys, not men, she reminded herself, though her brain betrayed her into seeing Kimji as a man.

The lean face, the gold eyes, the heroic set of his jaw, and the hint of muscle beneath that simple but handsome black tunic… she shivered at the image, but shook it off, angry for letting herself be hurt by that arrogant, sullen, spoiled… hero!

No. Her knight in shiny black armour was no hero, she scolded herself. He was a jerk. A deceitful player who had latched onto her to get free food with her special status. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

She slowed as she approached the next intersection, which was deserted. She panted, clutching her chest as her heart swelled and shrank, swelled and shrank. She swallowed another sob as she tried to get her bearings when she heard name again.

"Katara!" Kimji called from a block away.

"Katara!" Aang called from his glider. Katara looked up. She'd never been more relieved to see the little monk.

"Katara!" Zuko called again, closer now. Katara turned to him angrily.

"Kimji just leave me—"

Katara stopped dead. Running towards her was a face that made her forget everything. A face she altogether feared. A face that burned away thoughts of anything good: even Kimji was preferable to that face.

The burn scar showed clearly in the setting sun.

Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation raced towards her.

* * *

**One chapter more, folks! Thanks for all your reviews! Kudos go to SleepingDragon13 for getting the real purpose of Papa Pipi's special VIP status cuffs! (I pat your head in kudosery.)  
**

**P.S. Everybody loves the cabbage man. How could I NOT include him in the story? He's probably second in line in the "favourite character" category, next to everybody's favourite tragivillain, Zuko.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

** I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Isn't that obvious yet?  
**

* * *

Zuko didn't know what hit him. One minute he was running toward Katara. He heard the Avatar call her name. He saw the monk boy hovering on his glider. She'd looked away and when she turned back to face him, her face had gone rigid with terror. 

And then he'd felt a crushing blow to the base of his skull. Several pairs of arms had firmly grasped him, tying his hands behind his back. Blackness swallowed his vision as he was dragged away, unconscious.

Now he was awake, bound, gagged, and groggy, lying on his side on the floor next to Uncle Iroh, who was similarly trussed up. He sensed the others in the room: all the members of the advance scout. What had happened? Where was he? Was Katara all right?

Papa Pipi bent sideways at the waist and peered at Zuko curiously, as a boy inspecting a bug would. He said something about being escorted off the island with the "traditional Ho'Wan military send-off."

Uncle Iroh wriggled in a panic.

Zuko's eyes closed again. Just before he passed out, his brain growled something about letting the Avatar escape, admonished him for getting sidetracked, berated him for letting his attackers get the jump on him, and frankly shouted at him for being such a big jerk to the pretty water girl.

Darkness overtook him once more, shutting his stupid brain up.

* * *

"Zuko? Here?" Sokka, Aang and Katara ran through the streets, warily keeping their eyes open for Fire Nation soldiers. 

Katara had completely forgotten about Kimji in the chaos that had erupted after spotting Zuko. All she knew was that the Fire Prince had been running towards her, and then four figures had pounced on him from the shadows, dragging him into a dark side alley. She hadn't stuck around to see what would happen. She didn't care. Zuko meant Fire Nation, and that meant RUN.

So she ran, practically screaming Aang's name. The monk boy had glided down, following her at a frantic pace.

They met up with Sokka further up the road and she hastily told the two about the encounter with the Fire Prince. Their faces were grave. The decision was unanimous.

"We have to leave. Now."

The trio headed in the direction of the main gate. It was too risky to call Appa to the centre of the town, where all the townspeople, tourists, and Fire Nation soldiers could spot the bison and follow it to his master. They needed to get beyond the gates and high-tail it out of there.

As they rounded the bend, still nervous about Fire Nation soldiers, they nearly crashed into a grinning Papa Pipi.

"You kids don't look like you're having fun," Pipi said jovially.

Aang bowed shortly to him. "Thank you for giving us the bracelets, Papa Pipi, but we have to leave. Fire Nation soldiers are in the city—"

"Yes, I know," Pipi stopped him, but he seemed none to concerned. He beamed at the three bewildered children. "We here in Ho'Wan don't like our visitors breaking our simple rules, and we didn't ask to be drawn into this war. As far as I'm concerned, those fellas there tried to do both."

Aang, Sokka, and Katara turned to see what Pipi was talking about. To their amazement, a flatcar cart was being unceremoniously loaded with men, all in dark red and black garb. Each one had their ankles and wrists bound in thick, wax-dipped rope that the Firebenders would have a hard time burning off. They were all gagged. Two girls moved among them with small clubs, menacingly eyeing the soldiers and threatening to knock them out if they saw even the tiniest hint of smoke.

"What… how…?" Sokka sputtered. Aang grinned widely and pointed.

"Look!"

Sokka's jaw dropped. Prince Zuko sat at the centre among his men, the crown jewel of the tableau. His black fatigues were rumpled, and he was shouting through the gag. He hadn't spotted the trio until Sokka let out a whoop and fell over laughing.

Aang covered his mouth, but his giggle turned into full out knee-slapping as the laden cart started to pull away.

But Katara said nothing. The prince had spotted them. His yellow eyes narrowed and he stared long and hard directly at Katara. The scar on his face seemed to fade as a shadow passed over him.

Katara gasped.

_Kimji._

The lean face, the gold eyes, the heroic set of his jaw, and the hint of muscle beneath that simple but handsome black tunic…

That had all been Zuko.

_Not…not…not…you…you…you…_

The day's events flashed through her mind. The rescue fromt he goons... a set up? The puppet show... the laughter... his easy demeanor... it had all been an act.

He had tricked her. He had made her believe he was someone she could get to like.

He had almost made her give up Aang.

_That bastard._

Her heart broke for a second time that day.

_That…BASTARD! _

Katara's anger flared. She let him use her! She let him get under her skin! And she let herself care for that monstrous, evil-hearted, selfish, stuck up BOY!

"So what're you going to do with them?" Sokka asked, wiping away a tear. No one noticed the set in Katara's shoulders, her clenched fists, or the tears pricking her eyes.

Pipi grinned. "We have ways of dealing with troublemakers like these. Of course, we're civil folk. We don't believe in killing other people."

"You might want to reconsider that," Sokka said. "They're barely people."

Her brother's callous comment tore a gash in Katara's heart. _Kimji was a person! _

_No, not Kimji, Zuko. _

_But Zuko wasn't Kimji. _

_Kimji had never existed…_

"Katara, are you okay? You look a little pale." Aang touched her elbow.

"Oh!" Katara started. "I… I'm just a bit tired."

Aang smiled at her, but kept one eye on his friend, concerned about her unusual silence.

Sokka was talking animatedly with Pipi when he whooped again at something the mayor of Ho'Wan had just said.

"Guys! We gotta get Appa here now!" Sokka said, still chuckling. "They're going to chuck those soldiers and that prince into the ocean!"

"What!" Katara heard herself yelp. Her heart plunged to her stomach unexpectedly.

"We gotta go see this!" Aang and Sokka raced into a clearing, Aang blowing his bison whistle. A few short minutes later, they were all climbing onto Appa's back and soaring over the town, nearing the carnival midway where most of the more exciting rides were.

And there, just at the edge of a cliff, sat a great big catapult. Katara could see the Fire Nation soldiers being roughly shoved onto the platform that would launch them high over the 20-foot tall perimeter wall and into the foaming blue ocean below. A crowd was gathering near the contraption as Papa Pipi made some grand speech from atop a soapbox, detailing what the offenders were in for.

Katara eyeballed the catapult's length and took note of the tension on the arm. Her mind's eye traced the arc Zuko and the soldiers would travel, making a scattered rainbow of black and red camber over the setting sun.

"Let's get closer," Sokka urged. Aang and Appa obliged.

"How will they swim if their legs and arms are tied up?" Katara asked, hoping she didn't sound too frantic.

Sokka snorted. "Who cares? They can drown for all I care."

Then he saw the worry creasing his sister's delicate brow. He'd never seen her so flustered over Fire Nation soldiers before. "I'm sure they can burn through those ropes before they hit the water." He reassured her after a moment.

He quietly hoped they didn't know how to swim.

* * *

"…For reckless endangerment of lives, destruction of property, the innocent slaughter of helpless cabbages, the disturbance of The Fun…" 

Ho'Wan's mayor listed off a bunch of ridiculous crimes, but each got a rousing boo aimed at the troop squirming on the platform.

Zuko, still gagged but fully awake, stared into the crowd, ignoring the rotten cabbage that had just bounced off his forehead. He was trying to spot the Avatar's unique tattoos, or that Water Tribe boy's dark skinned face, or—

Or Katara, standing there, hating him, throwing rocks at him, screaming at him for being such a jerk. His mind replayed the last glimpse he'd caught of her as the cart had pulled away.

Her mouth had been shaped in a delicate "Oh." She had looked sickly. Perhaps even disgusted. Oh why had he said what he had? Why had he let his pride…

…_make him miss this perfect chance to catch the Avatar?_ his brain suggested.

Zuko did not deny that fact.

Iroh had managed to work the gag off. No one bothered to replace it, considering what was about to happen.

"Nephew! Start working on your bindings! We don't have much time!"

Their mortal peril was suddenly apparent. Zuko concentrated on his bindings, heating his wrists to gently soften the wax from the thick ropes. He could smell burning wax as his other troops followed suit, working on their bindings as inconspicuously as possible.

"…and will be tossed back to whence they came!" Pipi finished with a flourish. The crowd cheered wildly, mockingly, laughing at the disgraced Fire soldiers and their ridiculous cabbage-covered prince.

"Now tell me something, young Fire Prince," Papa Pipi turned, bent low and spoke to him directly.

Zuko stopped working on his ropes to peer hatefully into the little man's bushy face.

"I only have one question for you before I let you leave, and I want you to answer it truthfully."

Zuko scowled defiantly.

"Did you have fun today?"

He pulled the gag gingerly out of the Prince's mouth to let him answer.

Zuko almost spat at him when he spotted Madam Façade standing just behind Papa Pipi. She watched him expectantly, purple robed arms folded across her chest, a small smile gracing her lips.

Zuko didn't know what made him say it, but he was eternally grateful that his Uncle Iroh never heard him.

"Today was the most fun I've ever had." He whispered lowly.

Pipi smiled widely. He pulled a lever.

And Zuko watched the ground rush away from him, and then he was flying, soaring into the heart of the orange sun, a ball of flame caressing the ocean's cool blue horizon…

The bindings at his wrists sizzled and snapped. He doubled over in mid air and singed his boots incinerating the ropes off his ankles.

And he was falling, plunging with terrifying speed towards the water, only they must have miscalculated because he was much too close to the base of the cliffs. He could see the rocks below winking menacingly at him as the waves washed back and forth over them, beckoning him to his death…

Zuko's brain covered its eyes and waved goodbye to the world.

* * *

"NO!" Katara jumped to her feet, arms outstretched. The one body dressed all in black had somehow gotten tangled up in the other bodies, and was going to fall short of the deep, dense water that would save his life. 

She bent an enormous wave of water, bringing it ten... twenty... thirty... fifty feet into the air near the base of the cliff. She wasn't even sure how she was doing it. She only knew that she had to. The round hump of the wave rose to meet the falling body and as he splashed harmlessly into it, she rolled it back outward, letting it crash as gently as she could near the other soldiers who were one by one plopping into the water, or emerging from beneath it. Katara did not relax until she saw that distinctive ponytail and scalp burst out of the ocean's depths.

Who knew Fire Nation soldiers could swim so well?

"Aw, whadd'you do that for, Katara?" Sokka whined, extremely disappointed and a little angry at his sister.

Katara turned on him, eyes blazing. "He's a boy, Sokka, just like you! Do you really want to see him dead? Are you as bloodthirsty as _they _are?"

Sokka stared at her in shock. "I am NOT a boy! And he's _nothing_ like me!" he spluttered back indignantly. But his defiance sounded meek to his ears.

Katara was exhausted. Everything hurt suddenly, and she didn't want to fight with her brother. She didn't want to hate the world right now. Her heart couldn't take anymore. She sank to her knees and began to cry.

Sokka, wound up and pumped for a shouting match, watched his sister crumple. He rushed to her side, his anger deflated. Momo and Aang remained silent, leaving the brother and sister be. Aang guided Appa away from Ho'Wan, heading north.

It hadn't been the best birthday he'd ever had, he thought sullenly. But he would have more.

* * *

"They're headed north, your highness, shall we pursue?" 

Zuko nodded silently at the helmsman. His ship had picked them up in short time – Uncle Iroh had the foresight to send the ship and its crew to hide in a nearby cove to keep an eye out for trouble. The Fire Prince decided he would have to ask his uncle how he could have predicted the outcome of their mission. But later, after he had dried off.

The wet and shivering soldiers retired to their quarters, and Iroh to his cabin, attended by the ship's medic who promised to check in on Zuko soon. No one on the ship said anything to the bedraggled prince, but they were all giving him strange looks. He was too tired to glare back.

Zuko plodded into his quarters, peeling off his heavy, sopping clothes and boots as he went. He toweled off, feeling a chill settling into his bones. He toyed with the idea of taking a hot bath, but the last thing he felt like doing was getting back into the water.

Though he had removed his water-logged attire, the prince felt no lighter. A great weight was lodged in his chest, and it made him sit down heavily on the edge of his bed.

What had happened out there? Where had it all gone wrong? Why did he feel this way?

Katara's water blue eyes flashed in his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut, willing his last glimpse of her mortified face away. She_ had _looked disgusted, he concluded morosely. Why hadn't Madam Façade's enchantment worked? Everything had been fine all day up until he'd opened his pride-filled mouth and driven her away. The spell couldn't have run out yet; the sun hadn't set. Had there been a malfunction?

_More like… your true face…_

Katara's look of horror just before he'd been captured by Papa Pipi's goons rushed back to him. She had recognized him. She had learned the truth. She knew Zuko had been at her side all day and she was probably mocking him right now, sitting up on that stupid flying bison, laughing at her own foolishness for having been caught with such a monster of a man, making jokes about him with her moronic brother and the child-Avatar.

He should have been angry. He would be angry, later, and it would feel far better than what he was feeling now. Was this grief he was feeling? He grunted contemptuously at himself. He had enough grief in his cup already, thank you very much, and he didn't need to add to it.

It was sunset. The sun was already more than halfway down, blazing through his open door, making the shadows in his room grow long and dark. He sat listlessly, slumped over, elbows resting on his knees, while he stared at his feet.

_Oh come on, she's a Water peasant girl and she's running with the Avatar. You are a Prince of the Fire Nation, chasing said Avatar. There's not a single reason for her to even like you, _his brain reasoned consolingly.

…_But _I'm_ in love with her. Isn't that enough? _

The brain made no reply.

Zuko wearily got up to dress for dinner.

As he picked his silk robe up off the floor, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

And Zuko stood there, silently staring at his sun-drenched reflection, until the last sliver of the fiery sun slipped blissfully into the loving embrace of the wide, blue ocean, bringing the cool, peaceful twilight.

* * *

**END.**

* * *

**Thanks for reading, y'all! I appreciate reviews, comments, uncalled for insults, and more!**

**I'll be posting a post-mortem and explanatory notes to this story - if you have insights you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!  
**

**Stay tuned, cuz you haven't heard the last of me yet, Gadget! Look out for the sequel to this story, entitled _Bent_, coming soon! Thanks for your attention! -- _Best Wishes and Fishes, Vicki So._  
**


	7. Endnotes

Thanks for reading The Ho'Wan Island Carnival. Hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

* * *

Endnotes:

I like to dissect my own writing and spell out for everyone what I was trying to accomplish. And since people have been so good about reviewing, I'd love to hear about whether or not my ideas got through. The mark of a good author is one who doesn't need explain every damn thing he/she writes – it should be obvious without being too hit-you-in-the-head-with-a-fish kind of obvious. So please, if you've gotten this far, write me back! If something went right over your head and you still don't get it, I'd be happy to try and work it out so I can hone my skills a little more. So without further ado…

* * *

1. On the bracelets: 

The gold bracelets are indeed for birthdays, but the red bracelets are for "VIPs" – people Pipi know will be trouble. This way, the Ho'Wan guerillas (notice only Iroh calls them that) know exactly who to keep their eyes on. How did Pipi pick out Zuko's troops, you ask? Simple. Pipi has fantastic insight into people's minds, and with the help of Madam Façade, he can weed out the bad ones from the rest. Also, for some stupid reason, people from the Fire Nation only wear red and black (you'd think they'd change it up a little now and then, but no. Fire can be blue too, you know!)

* * *

2. On Madam Façade's "True Face" spell (i.e. "Eye of the Beholder" Spell): 

The glamour enchantment Madam Façade casts on Zuko is used to cloak him in "his true face" – the face people see through their own eyes. She says,

"_Your scar is not really a part of you…No matter how much you think it is. Your… father… he does not see that scar. Your friends, they do not see your scar. And as long as you don't point it out, no one else will either." _

People who know Zuko, such as his Uncle or his crew, can see beyond his scar, and see the determined young man the Fire prince is growing up to be.

Strangers, most of whom try to see the best in people, don't automatically see a person's faults, so Zuko can go unnoticed as long as he doesn't point to his face and scream, "Look! Scar!" (That's really the enchantment part. Like really good make up.)

Katara literally sees a knight in shining armour. Once Zuko saves her from the goons in the alley, she looks into "Kimji's" beautiful face as he flashes "a smile that altogether blinded Katara."

She ceases to see Kimji when Zuko lets pride overrule him _("I – I'm not interested in you!") _as he often does throughout the series. Right up to that point, he was acting like a regular teenage boy would – awkward, shy, perhaps more heroic than the average teen, but otherwise normal. So that's what Katara saw.

She only recognizes Zuko when she's hurt by his stinging words (_I mean, ouch!_) and sees him for what he really is:

"_Her knight in shiny black armour was no hero, she scolded herself. He was a jerk. A deceitful player who had latched onto her to get free food with her special status. A wolf in sheep's clothing." _

Think about it like this: have you ever had a crush on someone who was really good looking until he or she said something totally off-putting or despicable? You cease to see him/her in that perfect light after that. So it was with Katara.

Zuko doesn't see the effect of the spell because he sees himself as flawed, his scar being the mark that he is a failure to his father. As Iroh points out in the series, capturing the Avatar is the only chance Zuko has of things returning to normal. Only when Zuko redeems himself will he be whole in the eyes of both his father and himself.

Which brings us to the final scene:

"_And Zuko stood there, silently staring at his sun-drenched reflection, until the last sliver of the fiery sun slipped blissfully into the loving embrace of the wide, blue ocean, bringing the cool, peaceful twilight." _

I was trying to imply here that Zuko could finally see the determined, unblemished young man others could see. (Hope that got through to everyone – the sun can be setting, but it hasn't set until it disappears over the horizon. The spell hadn't worn off when Katara first identified him.) Once he'd admitted to himself that he was in love with Katara, he made himself more whole. Instead of denying that essential part of himself - love - he accepted in and a whole new world opened up to him. As Madam Façade said:

"_There is more to your life than how you appear to others... But I think you've already figured that out." _

Those things: honour, hope, faith, and love, that last one being the doozy.

In the end, Façade's spell really has changed everything for Zuko. He has caught a glimpse of himself as he is truly meant to be, what he truly is inside, and it will change everything he does from here on in…

In my universe, that is… stay tuned…

* * *

3. On Zutara in general 

Undeniably, the Fire Prince and the Water Tribe peasant are the hottest couple slated to get together for this series. (Sorry Nickelodeon, I know you're trying to keep it a kids show, but it's so obviously meant to be.) Obvious hints include the following:

"No wonder she ran away, she's way too pretty for you." – Jun

"You will marry a very powerful bender…" – Aunt Woo

"Oh, that's so sweet of Zuko. Would you give him a kiss for me when you see him?" – Katara

Zuko's relatively kind treatment of Katara in "The Waterbending Scroll."

My predictions are that by the second season, or whenever Aang finishes learning Earthbending, we'll start to see more mature themes as the two adversaries keep clashing.

I know some of my readers were disappointed that there wasn't any hot and heavy action going on in Ho'Wan. I'm from the "Mulder and Scully" school of "don't-let-them-be-together-it-makes-for-a-better-story." There's way more tension and the payoff's better when they aren't constantly macking. But rest assured, in response to a number of requests (pleas, really, for more fluff), my next "episode" will feature Katara spying on Zuko.

While he's taking a bath.

Naked.

* * *

**Blooper**

Wow! You got this far! I'm impressed. So to reward you, please accept my own piece of randomness. I'm stealing this idea from Elenea Galad, whose fantastic story, Brotherly Love, includes hilarious randomness in the form of "outtakes" as the Avatar cast "films" on set. Read it, they'll put a smile on your face.

**Chapter Six, Scene Three:**

**Pipi smiled widely. He pulled a lever. **

**And Zuko watched the ground rush away from him, and then he was flying, soaring into the heart of the orange sun, a ball of flame caressing the ocean's cool blue horizon… **

_(Zuko screams girlishly as he's launched over the wall)_

Façade: "That boy is our last hope."

Pipi: "No… there is another…"

_(They glance at each other and break down into laughter.)_

_

* * *

_

Well, that's enough from me! Please review and let me in on your insights into the show.

Stay tuned, folks! _Bent_ will be out in December!


End file.
